Former USD player pleads guilty in bribery case

San Diego  Former University of San Diego basketball star Brandon Johnson pleaded guilty Thursday in the college sports bribery case just weeks before it was scheduled for trial. But the school’s all-time leading scorer remained adamant about one thing: He never fixed any games.

The factual basis for Johnson’s plea, heard by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bartick in San Diego federal court, included an admission that, after his playing career had finished, Johnson “solicited” a current member of the Toreros team “to influence the outcome of a USD basketball game by monetary bribe.” But it stopped short of saying he took money himself to fix games during the previous season — something the government has alleged and fellow defendants admitted in their guilty pleas.

Johnson, who arrived 45 minutes late for the hearing, declined to comment and referred questions to his attorney, Oliver Cleary.

“His plea today does not change the fact that Brandon Johnson never point-shaved,” Cleary said. “He always played like the competitor he is — to win. Brandon apologizes for his naïve involvement in the conspiracy, but what’s clear today is that he never threw a game.”

Johnson, 26, becomes the eighth of 10 defendants to plead guilty in the 19-month-old federal case that also involved marijuana distribution and illegal sports bookmaking. At a hearing later Thursday, the two remaining defendants — Lilian Goria and former USD player Brandon Dowdy — had their cases continued to Feb. 22. Both cases are expected to be resolved without prison time.

Johnson was initially scheduled to plead guilty on Tuesday with T.J. Brown, a former USD assistant coach alleged to be the intermediary between Johnson and the bettors. Johnson missed the hearing, Cleary said, due to flight delays traveling from his home in Houston.

Brown went ahead with his plea Tuesday, which, like Johnson, did not address games alleged to be fixed during the 2009-10 season. Brown admitted to meeting with a current member of USD’s team in February 2011 “for the purpose of affecting the outcome of a USD men’s basketball (game).”

That player, U-T San Diego revealed last year, is senior forward Ken Rancifer.

“T.J. Brown, once given the name by Brandon Johnson, contacted the current USD men’s basketball player and arranged for the player to meet with the co-conspirators,” according to the factual basis for Brown’s guilty plea. “At that time, the current USD men’s basketball player was given money by the co-conspirators.

“The current men’s basketball player declined to be involved … and turned over the money to T.J. Brown, who in turn gave the money back to the co-conspirators.”

Brown’s attorney, Thomas Warwick, did not return a phone message. USD has routinely declined to make Rancifer available for comment on the case.

Sentencing for Brown and Johnson was set for Feb. 8 before U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia. Neither reached a comprehensive plea agreement, instead merely filing a brief factual basis for the guilty plea. Cleary said no sentencing deal was struck, which could make for a dramatic hearing next year.

The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; Cleary said he plans to recommend no prison time. Steve Goria, identified as one of the case’s primary defendants, recently was sentenced to 30 months — the government’s recommendation.

“Brandon was not a conduit like T.J. Brown,” Cleary said. “T.J. used B.J. to talk to a player because B.J. knows the player and T.J. did not. He relied on his relationship with Brandon as a coach, as a friend, and B.J. obviously looked up to him. He made an introduction. That’s all he admitted to today.”

As part of Goria’s guilty plea last summer, he admitted to betting on a February 2010 game between USD and Loyola Marymount that Johnson, then a senior guard, was paid to influence. The Toreros were favored to win by 3½ points by Las Vegas oddsmakers, and lost 72-69 after squandering a late lead. Goria also said that in total “the conspiracy profited more than $120,000.”

Fellow primary defendants Richard Garmo and Paul Thweni, who are scheduled for sentencing next month, made similar claims in their guilty pleas.

“They decided to take advantage of a plea bargain that was offered on the government’s terms,” Cleary said. “They included things that we dispute ever occurred. Those things are not true. Our position is, Brandon played a very minor role and didn’t profit.

“He wants to continue playing basketball (professionally), and I think he’s got a good chance of that with his limited role in this.”